Running on empty – how to survive in the Middle East in the era of cheap oil

Falling oil prices have hit the Middle East and forced advisers to radically reshape strategies in the region.

Oil price volatility is a fact of life in the Middle East. At below or around $40 a barrel, the region has been dealt a hard dose of realism. Developing economic models that rely less on oil and gas revenues is now the order of the day, while national governments have had to rein in notoriously lavish spending programmes.

Law firms that rushed into the Middle East as it became a significant driver of global economic activity amid soaring oil prices a decade ago, now have to review their strategies.